Hardest Locations To Play In North America: The place Do Arrowhead, Michigan Stadium Rank?

[ad_1] Incomes the No. 1 seed within the NFC is vital for the Seattle Seahawks, partly due to a flamable and rowdy setting created by one of many loudest open-air stadiums within the NFL residing within the Pacific Northwest.

This would be the fourth time the Seahawks host the NFC championship recreation. The three earlier instances, Seattle has superior to the Tremendous Bowl. Nonetheless, the Emerald Metropolis shouldn't be the one professional sports activities venue that creates an intimidating setting for the opposing workforce on recreation days.

That stated, we take a better have a look at the hardest locations to play in all sports activities and why it’s tough for visiting groups to return away with a win.

Honorable mentions 10. Cameron Indoor Stadium (house of Duke basketball) One of many issues outsiders typically overlook about Cameron Indoor Stadium is how quaint the constructing actually feels. It holds fewer than 10,000 followers per recreation — a few of whom paint their our bodies from head to toe in blue after tenting outdoors for days at a time — and the verticality of the world’s structure is such that the primary few rows are solely separated from the court docket by a number of toes. That’s the place the viral pictures of Cameron Crazies almost touching opposing gamers on in-bounds passes are born.

The setting reached fever-pitch ranges in the course of the unparalleled tenure of former head coach Mike Krzyzewski, who gained 5 nationwide titles and reached 13 Ultimate Fours earlier than stepping down after the 2021-22 marketing campaign. Any win by any opponent at Cameron Indoor Stadium is an efficient one. — Michael Cohen

9. Ohio Stadium (house of Ohio State soccer) The Buckeyes have turned Ohio Stadium into the sort of place the place opposing followers simply don't count on to win, even within the fashionable period of the game.

Regardless of the arrival of title, picture and likeness guidelines, the allowance of instant eligibility by way of the switch portal, enforced revenue-sharing with student-athletes throughout sports activities and the extension of the Faculty Soccer Playoff from 4 groups to 12, Ohio State has misplaced simply 4 video games at "The Shoe" since 2020. Solely Oregon (2021) and Michigan (2022, 2024) have managed to board a aircraft out of Columbus, Ohio, with a win in tow.

In case you win at Ohio State, you have a tendency to construct your legacy round it. Simply ask Jim Harbaugh, who used his 2021 win to launch Michigan on a trajectory towards its first CFP look and its first CFP nationwide championship three years later. — RJ Younger

8. Allen Fieldhouse (house of Kansas basketball) A good portion of the mystique surrounding Allen Fieldhouse, which is broadly considered a bucket-list locale for school basketball junkies, is linked to greater than a century of custom for the Kansas program — even when the constructing itself solely opened in 1955.

This system’s founder and first coach, James Naismith, actually invented the game with a peach basket. The world was subsequently named after one other coach, Phog Allen, whose time in cost spanned elements of 5 many years, from 1919-56, by which level the hoops cathedral named after him was already constructed. It’s a spot the place future Corridor of Famers like Larry Brown, Roy Williams and Invoice Self all gained nationwide championships as head coaches, to not point out the house of 37 eventual first-round picks.

When opponents stroll into Allen Fieldhouse, they really feel all the things it represents. — Cohen

7. Beaver Stadium (house of Penn State soccer) There’s nothing fairly like taking part in in Beaver Stadium – particularly at evening, and particularly when there’s a White Out, when all 106,572 rowdy and wild followers in attendance are dressed head to toe in white and ‘Mo Bamba’ is blasting. Followers wave round their white shakers and, in fact, there are all the time these ultra-dedicated individuals who paint their our bodies completely white.

In different phrases, it’s lots of blinding white for opponents to get used to. The entire thing is an electrical setting that provides you chills.

Beaver Stadium was as soon as an older, rickety stadium, however it’s at present present process a significant $700 million renovation that isn't anticipated to be accomplished till Fall 2027. The facelift is important, however don’t count on it to remove from the intimidation issue – Penn State is 327-85 all-time at house.

With a brand new teaching workers in place for the 2026 season, count on Beaver Stadium to be additional energized. – Laken Litman

6. GEHA Area at Arrowhead Stadium (house of the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs) The house of essentially the most completed participant within the league, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and his three Tremendous Bowl wins, Arrowhead Stadium has created an out of doors setting that rivals Lumen Area for its crowd noise and influence on opponents throughout recreation day.

Nonetheless, the Chiefs have an added component late within the season: chilly.

Kansas Metropolis’s victory over the Miami Dolphins within the 2023 AFC Wild Card recreation is likely one of the coldest video games in NFL historical past. Sport-time temperature was minus-4 levels, the fourth-coldest recreation in NFL historical past. Mahomes is 10-1 in video games when the temperature is 30 levels or under. Nonetheless, the necessity for him to play huge in inclement climate may change sooner or later, because the Chiefs have proposed transferring to a $3 billion new, indoor facility constructed throughout the Kansas-Missouri state line in Kansas in 2031.

For now, Arrowhead Stadium holds the report for the loudest stadium at 142.2 decibels, based on Guinness World Information, recorded in September 2014 throughout a Chiefs’ victory over the Patriots.

Opened in 1972, the Chiefs personal a 257-164-1 report in the course of the common season and a 14-8 postseason report at Arrowhead Stadium. – Eric D. Williams

5. Michigan Stadium (house of Michigan soccer) Strolling into Michigan Stadium is a magical expertise for school soccer followers.

From the surface, it doesn’t actually seem like the most important stadium within the nation. However whenever you stroll in round row 74 and really feel the grandeur and the vitality inside, you perceive why it’s referred to as "The Massive Home." Capability is 107,601 and the Wolverines are 470-135-17 all-time taking part in at house. It’s definitely a bucket checklist kind of place for opposing followers to go to.

And it’s not simply the joy you are feeling just by being contained in the stadium, however the traditions and rituals followers expertise whereas there. For instance, earlier than kickoff, gamers run out of the tunnel at midfield on the east aspect of the stadium and each jumps as much as slap the "Go Blue" banner. Alum James Earl Jones is the voice you hear in a pregame video. "Mr. Brightside" blares in between the third and fourth quarters.

And, in fact, you’ll be inundated by "Go Blue" chants and renditions of "Hail to the Victors." – Laken Litman

4. Estadio Azteca (house of the Mexico nationwide soccer workforce) Overlook Estadio Azteca’s unparalleled historical past: the report 19 World Cup matches performed there, the 2 iconic finals, these indelible photographs of Pele and Maradona being carried on their teammates' shoulders as 100,000-plus followers seemed on with the impossibly colossal higher deck because the backdrop.

Overlook that this June 11, when Mexico welcomes South Africa within the 2026 match opener, Azteca will turn into the primary stadium in soccer historical past to host matches at three World Cups.

Moreover being among the many most storied cathedrals of the planet’s favourite sport, Azteca can also be an nearly assured loss for El Tri’s opponents.

Located 7,200 toes above sea degree, oxygen-starved foes are spent earlier than halftime. Huge partisan house crowds — whereas renovations have capped Azteca’s present seating capability at 87,000, it’s nonetheless the eighth-largest venue on planet fútbol — and excessive midday kickoffs in blazing temperatures full the home-field benefit. That edge has slipped just a little in recent times, however the numbers don’t lie: Mexico has misplaced simply two of 50-plus World Cup qualifiers there all-time.

Positive, lore stays an enormous a part of Azteca’s attraction. However please spare a thought for the South Africans in June, too. – Doug McIntyre

3. Saban Area at Bryant-Denny Stadium (house of Alabama soccer) Since 2019, the Crimson Tide have misplaced simply three video games at Bryant-Denny Stadium and simply as soon as for the reason that discipline was named after Nick Saban, who gained six nationwide championships as head coach at Alabama. And a kind of losses got here in opposition to No. 1-ranked LSU (2019) in a 12 months when the Tigers had been unbeatable.

Couple that stat with Bama’s run to complete the Saban period, leading to 70 wins and simply eight losses, and it’s straightforward to see why Alabama — which has gained 15 nationwide titles and 30 convention championships since 1925 — and it turns into simpler to know simply why the Tide sit at No. 3 on this checklist: They've by no means made dropping a behavior. — Younger

The second-oldest stadium within the NFL to Soldier Area (1927) and a shrine to the NFL constructed within the cozy confines of Inexperienced Bay, Wisconsin, Lambeau Area stays one of many hardest locations to play for opposing groups. Residence to the Packers since 1957, Inexperienced Bay has gained 13 NFL titles, and the Tremendous Bowl trophy bears legendary coach Vince Lombardi’s title.

Residence to the "Lambeau Leap," Cheeseheads and the coldest recreation ever performed in league historical past within the Ice Bowl, there's a cause this iconic stadium is on the bucket checklist for each NFL fan.

From the metallic bleachers nonetheless in place and a 25,000 square-foot Packers Corridor of Fame that provides it an old-school really feel, to crucial on-field modernizations like a heated grass discipline, Lombardi Stadium provides a novel expertise for followers and gamers.

Most significantly, it’s a tricky place to get a win. The Packers are 269-136-6 in the course of the common season and 18-7 within the playoffs all-time at Lambeau Area. – Williams

The house of the twelfth man, the Seahawks retired the No. 12 jersey in 1984 to acknowledge the influence of the noise followers created in the course of the franchise’s time within the Kingdome earlier than transferring to what's now often called Lumen Area in 2002.

The Seahawks set a then-Guinness World report for crowd noise at 137.6 decibels in the course of the workforce’s victory over the Saints in 2013 on Monday evening. Due to the deafening noise usually created on the stadium, the Seahawks maintain an NFL report 11 false begin penalties referred to as in a win over the New York Giants in 2005.

Marshawn Lynch’s historic "Beast Quake" 67-yard landing run throughout a 2011 playoff victory over the Saints created a lot noise that it registered as a minor earthquake on a close-by seismometer.

Rams head coach Sean McVay says he anticipates an electrical setting when his workforce travels to Seattle for the NFC Championship recreation on Sunday.

"It’s going to be a hell of an environment and setting," McVay stated final week. "We’re enthusiastic about it. These are the moments that you simply really feel essentially the most alive as a competitor."

The Seahawks have 11 consecutive postseason wins at Lumen Area with followers within the stands courting again to 2005. Seattle is 17-7 in opposition to the Rams at Lumen Area, and it is 128-66 at Lumen Area since its completion in 2002. – Williams